


A Reunion, Of Sorts

by danceswithhamsters01



Series: Reddit Prompts [24]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Death, Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Here Lies the Abyss, Gen, Hawke sacrificed herself, In the Fade, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Here Lies the Abyss, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 00:03:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17011671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithhamsters01/pseuds/danceswithhamsters01
Summary: Based on a prompt from r/dragonageHere Lies the Abyss, the quest where no matter what you do, someone's not going to be able to go home. Ava Hawke threw herself at the Nightmare demon so that Inquisitor Trevelyan and Warden Stroud could escape. This is what happened to her afterward.





	A Reunion, Of Sorts

_**Prompt 4:** Hawke OC's: Write a letter to Leandra, about what's been happening in their life for the last few years. If Hawke was left in the Fade, make it a conversation with her instead. _

 

The Nightmare demon shrieked in agony after what felt like days of battle and hobbled away into the green nothingness that hung everywhere. The warrior panted and sank to her knees. Stroud and the Inquisitor had gotten away safely, that was all that mattered. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the scenery had changed. It was a sunny spring day and she was kneeling in fresh green grass. It looked a lot like her old home in Lothering before the darkspawn and civil war had come to Ferelden.

“So… here we are. Not exactly the circumstances I hoped to see you again under, but I’ll take what I can get, darling.”

“Mother?” Ava asked hesitantly. That voice, it had to be.

The woman smiled and offered her a hand up. “Of course, darling. That was very brave of you, doing that so your companions could escape. You and Carver were always so much like your father.”

They walked for a time, following a path just like the one that led from their old farmhouse to the village. A familiar looking house with a fresh coat of dull red paint stood in the distance. Evidence of a well-tended garden stood on the east side of the building, bursting with blooms and hints of fruit developing on the vine.

What have you been up to, dear girl? Other than the obvious picking fights with demons. Did your Anders finally make an honest woman of you?”

A stab of heartache made Hawke freeze in place. Memories of an exploding chantry and a bloodied knife flashed in her mind’s eye. “N-no, mother. He didn’t get the chance. Something… came up.”

Arms wrapped around the warrior, pulling her into a hug. “That’s truly unfortunate. He was a sweet man, from what I saw of him. A good mage and a good man. I would’ve been proud to call him my son-in-law.”

Ava hugged her mother close. Leandra never had to deal with the dueling realities of Anders-the-man and Anders-the-abomination, never had to guess which one was the one in control on any given day. In a way, she was thankful that Mother never got the chance to see and have to remember the ugly parts of him.

“And your sister? How is Bethany?”

“Still a Grey Warden. She’s… changed. I’m not sure you’d recognize her anymore. She’s gotten assertive. Her spine is stronger than steel, now. Not a single peep about wanting to be ‘normal’ from her in years.”

“Is she happy?” Mother asked quietly.

“After a fashion. She takes her duty very seriously. I feel sorry for any darkspawn stupid enough to cross her path.”

They came to a stone bench that sat near the garden. The breeze held a hint of flowers in bloom as it brushed past. Leandra patted the spot next to her after sitting down. Ava looked around then cautiously sank down onto the cool stone.

“What brought you here so soon? I’d hoped you would’ve been, well… older when we met again. Much older.”

It came tumbling out, one awkward sentence at a time. The qunari invasion. Meredith calling a rite of Annulment on the Kirkwall Circle. Anders’ causing the Chantry to explode, killing many and damaging a large portion of the city. Having to flee her second home when the city officials were looking for a convenient scapegoat. A war erupting between Templars and Mages. And finally being given sanctuary by Grey Wardens and being smuggled out of Free Marches.

“I finally met her, you know.”

“Met who, dear?”

“The Hero of Ferelden. My cousin. But I have an issue I need to bring up,” Ava said.

Leandra winced but spoke anyway. “And what is that?”

“Why did you lie? Why did you say her mother was Revka? I looked into things. All but one of Revka’s children are dead. The one who still lives was made Tranquil. And all of them were male. Why didn’t you tell me you and Gamlen had a sister?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” Leandra avoided her gaze.

“Mother, I’m not an idiot. Sevarra, the Hero of Ferelden herself, had me smuggled out of the Free Marches and hid me in the Ferelden Grey Warden stronghold in Amaranthine. We got to talking. We compared notes. She showed me her Confirmation records from the Chantry. They clearly state she was born to a woman called Anya Amell who was originally from Kirkwall. Drop the act.”

Leandra sighed and hung her head, chin meeting her chest. “Anya and I were not… close. She’d been unplanned, and my mother resented that she was having another child. I loved my mother, so I took my cues from her and resented my little sister existing, too. I didn’t realize how wrong and hurtful I was being until the twins were born. By then, Gamlen had written me that she’d run away from home with some Rivaini merchant more than a year before. Neither of us heard from her again. When I heard that woman with a Rivaini-sounding first name with Amell for a surname was named the Hero of Ferelden, I knew. It was the only plausible answer.”

“Then why weren’t you honest?”

“It was… easier to say that she was Revka’s. I didn’t have the heart to talk about the little sister I treated like rubbish. She died thinking I hated her.”

“How do you know that?”

“When I first got here, I tried looking for her. Eventually, I found her. She told me that to my face. She wants nothing to do with me. I cannot blame her.”

The pair sat in silence for an uncounted number of minutes. Leandra was the one to break the silence first.

“What made you do it? What made you think you had to get involved with the war? Maker knows you’d suffered enough.”

“Someone had to help clean up the mess that started in Kirkwall. I… I helped the man who lit the match. It only made sense that I also help the people who were trying to make things right. It… hurts knowing that helping a friend made so many people come to harm. I had to do something.”

“You’ve always had a good heart, darling. No one can see the future. You did what you thought was best at the time, never doubt that. That’s all anyone can do.”

Ava looked away. “Perhaps.”

“I’m guessing this means you’re going to wait a while before you go looking for him?” She didn’t need to specify who she was referring to.

“To put it lightly.”

 


End file.
